This is a bias, because I’m Brazilian, I do consider Senna and Piquet (he made the best out of an inferior Brabham) heroes. But I like Boutsen, Katayama, Sutil, the Rosbergs, Laffitte, Arnoux, Gerhard Berger, Damon Hill, Depailler, Patresse, Niki Lauda, Ronnie Petersen, Gilles Villeneuve, Carlos Pace, and Emmo Fittipaldi.

As for the villains….well, Sakon Yamamoto, Fernando Alonso, Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, Alain Prost (sorry for all you Prost fans), Vittorio Brambilla, and of course, my favorite villain of all is Salazar! My Gravatar would not be complete without him!

Ayrton Senna – Most talented driver ever, but he went too far to prove it.

Kimi Raikkonen – You drove for the two best teams in the worlds most prestigious motor sport. You won many races and a world championship, SO SHOW SOME BLOODY EMOTION!

Eddie Irvine – Just shut up. Please.

Sebastian Vettel – Gloat! Gloat! Moan! Moan!

Alberto Ascari – Don’t know why.

Nigel Mansell – “Winning this championship was harder than it looked”

Jaime Alguersuari – For being younger than me.

OTHER:

Michael Schumacher – Currently would list him as a hero, but it would be hypocritical of me to do so because I used to hate him so much. I cant list him at the moment.

HONOURABLE MENTION:

Ralf Schumacher. Thankyou for all the laughs.

I really could go on forever and there are lot more guys that, thinking about it, I would list, but they didn’t come to my head quick enough so they’ve missed out. Sorry Massa, Button, Arnoux, Coulthard, Hakkinen, Alboreto…Everyone will just have to guess where I’ve placed you!

Niki Lauda – Recovered from a horrifying crash and being led the last rites to come back that season. Criticised by Old Man Ferrari for retiring from a sodden race that season but that will never take away from his bravery and his sheer ability to come back after a 3 year break to win a third WDC

Jackie Stewart – Bravery is required to race the cars of his era, but to stand up against fans, the governing body and some of your fellow drivers required bravery of a different sort. No-one has put as much back into the sport as this man.

David Coulthard – Despite having the measure of Hakkinen in 1997, never became the WDC that he arguably could have. A brilliant man, although as a driver relied too much on confidence

Damon Hill – Perhaps not the most talented or strong-willed driver to win the WDC, but certainly one of the biggest-hearted. An all-round decent guy who deserved his moments of glory. Defined by Hungary 1997.

Fernando Alonso – Vilified in the press but still proves himself to be a great driver on numerous occasions. Had things been different we could well be looking at a 4x WDC

Michael Schumacher – There is a reason why F1 is so popular in Germany. This is it.

Fernando Alonso – Scandal and controversy does seem to follow him wherever he goes. Co-incidence?

Rubens Barichello – perhaps sounded like a bit of a winer in recent seasons but like any wine has got steadily better and more palatable with age.

Nelsinho Piquet – OK under pressure etc but at the end of the day, endangered lives of others for the gain of the team.

Sebastian Vettel – As so eloquently put earlier “Whine whine whine, moan moan moan, grump grump grump”. Also his alarming tendency to turn right when there is a rival nearby is not particularly endearing…

Helmut Marko – Not as a driver but his politics as a team-member aren’t the best…